TABLET MAG
A Legion of Their Own
by Suzy Weiss
June 27, 2021

On the third floor of a nondescript building, above a salon specializing in eyelash extensions, four men and three women are deep into practicing roundhouse groin kicks when I shuffle into the room a few minutes late. I take my spot near the door at the very front of the class—the Manhattan-wide punishment for lateness to a group workout. But this particular class doesn’t promise a bikini body, or ab-shredding, or a mind-body-soul connection for 40 bucks plus shoe rental. The group is Legion, a self-defense training network that partners with gyms and martial arts schools in the greater New York area. Their mission is to untremble Jews’ knees by teaching us how to fight back against the antisemites that seek to do us harm—by throwing fireworks at us, pelting our children with eggs, punching us in the face—or worse. READ MORE